MLB Off-Topic

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

This is crazy to me, especially coming from a Yankees fan.

I was so pissed when I finally got to visit Yankee Stadium and saw that Mariano wasn't available to pitch that day. I was dying to see him come into a game live in person.

I saw Trevor Hoffman enter in person in San Diego. God that was incredibly bad ***.

The jog itself just doesn't really move me. The song was obviously hype, and listening to it when he was warming up was great, but with the cart, none of that would change.

Maybe it's just the example of Mo in particular. Nothing he did was hype. His jog wasn't special or anything. He just went out there and put dudes to sleep. That's why we loved the song, not the jog.

If a guy came out of the bullpen in a cart with a Cam Newton towel over his head and got off of it looking like he was ready to put a hole in the catchers glove, it would do the same thing for me. It's just theatrics.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

The reliever jog + musical entrance doesn't really matter to people watching on TV, of course, all of that stuff is edited out of the broadcast save for the first step out of the bullpen maybe. But when you're at a game in person, and it's a save situation, the crowd does get rather hyped up when those guitar licks/gong sounds/drum beats fire off for their closer and he comes in with a brooding walk. I'd also imagine this makes quite an impression on young kids and others being at a game for the first time. For the in-person fan, I'd have to argue that the RP entering in a little clown car instead would sort of alter the fan sentiment associated with that. It would be like watching the opening to Saving Private Ryan with Chris Farley's "Fat Guy in a Little Coat" song overdubbed on top of it. Just a lot of cognitive dissonance there.

As many have already pointed out, we (and by "we" I mean Rob Manfred and his cabal) seem to be looking more for things to change for the sake of making changes to say that we made those changes because those changes really needed to be made. To my knowledge, there's absolutely no evidence that making games shorter will make existing fans consume the product more or better. Or that it will make the product itself better. And there's no evidence that new fans will be drawn in more if, say, games are 2:52 long instead of 3:12 long. I mean, is there even a correlation (positive or negative) between length of game and fan enjoyment? Or length of game and TV ratings? Or length of game and MLB revenue? The only thing we know for sure is length of game has a positive correlation with Rob Manfred snarling and looking lost like someone may have run over his dog.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Here's a fun thing. Baseball America is doing every team's lineup if it was made up solely of players originally signed or drafted by that team (if every team was homegrown). Today was the AL East

Baltimore

Spoiler

C: Chance Sisco
1B: Trey Mancini
2B: Jonathan Schoop
3B: Nick Delmonico
SS: Manny Machado
OF: Hyun Soo Kim
OF: Austin Hays
OF: Nick Markakis
DH: Matt Weiters

SP: Jake Arrieta
SP: Kevin Gausman
SP: Dylan Bundy
SP: Zach Davies
SP: Eduardo Rodriguez
RP: Zach Britton

Honorable mention: Ariel Miranda, Josh Hader, Mychal Givens, David Hernandez, Koji Uehara, Caleb Joseph, Tim Adleman, Pedro Florimon,
Parker Bridwell, Wei-Yen Chen, Steven Brault, Jim Johnson, Donnie Hart,
Oliver Drake

Boston

Spoiler

C: Christian Vazquez
1B: Anthony Rizzo
2B: Dustin Pedroia
3B: Rafael Devers
SS: Xander Boegarts
OF: Andrew Benintendi
OF: Jackie Bradley, Jr.
OF: Mookie Betts
DH: Josh Reddick

SP: Jon Lester
SP: Clay Buchholz
SP: Anibal Sanchez
SP: Raul Alcantara
SP: Chris Smith
RP: Hunter Strickland

Honorable mention: Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Hanley Ramirez, Travis Shaw, Manuel Margot, Yoan Moncada, Brandon Moss, Carlos Asuaje,
Jose Iglesias, Ryan Pressly, Alex Wilson, Matt Barnes, Jose Alvarez,
Junichi Tazawa, Michael Kopech

New York

Spoiler

C: Gary Sanchez
1B: Greg Bird
2B: Robinson Cano
3B: Miguel Andujar
SS: Eduardo Nunez
OF: Melky Cabrera
OF: Austin Jackson
OF: Aaron Judge
DH: Brett Gardner

SP: Luis Severino
SP: Masahiro Tanaka
SP: Ivan Nova
SP: Jordan Montgomery
SP: Ian Kennedy
RP: Dellin Betances

Honorable mention: Ben Gamel, Mark Melancon, David Robertson, Adam Warren, Tyler Clippard, Shane Greene, Tommy Kahnle, David Phelps,
Mike Dunn, Arodys Vizcaino, Phil Hughes, Zach McAllister, Francisco Cervelli,
Jose Pirela, George Kontos

Tampa Bay

Spoiler

C: Omar Narvaez
1B: John Jaso
2B: Derek Dietrich
3B: Evan Longoria
SS: Tim Beckham
OF: Andrew Toles
OF: Kevin Kiermaier
OF: Mikie Mahtook
DH: Stephen Vogt

SP: David Price
SP: Alex Cobb
SP: German Marquez
SP: Blake Snell
SP: Jacob Faria
RP: Wade Davis

Honorable mention: Felipe Rivero, Alex Colome, Jake McGee, James Shields,
Matt Moore, Jeremy Hellickson, Jason Hammel, Jesse Hahn, Brent Honeywell, Kirby Yates, Enny Romero, Joey Rickard, Taylor Motter

Toronto

Spoiler

C: Yan Gomes
1B: Eric Thames
2B: Ryan Goins
3B: Ryan Schimpf
SS: Adeiny Hechavarria
OF: Jake Marisnick
OF: Kevin Pillar
OF: Anthony Alford
DH: Adam Lind

SP: Noah Syndergaard
SP: Marcus Stroman
SP: Aaron Sanchez
SP: Kendall Graveman
SP: Joe Musgrove
RP: Roberto Osuna

Honorable mention: Sam Dyson, Brett Cecil, Dustin McGowan, Jeff Hoffman,
Anthony DeSclafani, Daniel Norris, Miguel Castro, Matt Boyd, Justin Nicolino,
Ryan Tepera, Aaron Loup, Danny Farquhar, Danny Barnes, Marc Rzepczynski,
Franklin Barreto

Also, this might be known, but Hank Aaron and Willie Mays were almost teammates. When Aaron was coming out of the Negro League, he had contract offers from both the Giants and the Braves. The only reason he picked the Braves is because they offered $50 more per month.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Giants are retiring Barry Bonds' number on August 11th while the Pirates are in town.

[fugazi]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

In case any of us forgot the freak of nature that is/was Nolan Ryan

https://www.mlb.com/news/two-unbreakable-records-of-nolan-ryan/c-265897848

[Blzer]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Giants are retiring Barry Bonds' number on August 11th while the Pirates are in town.

I can see his front office authority already taking form! It won't be soon before he gets his statue erected before being HOF-elected.

[Dead2009]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Giants to retire No. 25 jersey of Barry Bonds in August

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22346890/san-francisco-giants-retire-no-25-jersey-barry-bonds-2018

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Giants to retire No. 25 jersey of Barry Bonds in August
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...rry-bonds-2018

Huh...well this is awkward.

Giants are retiring Barry Bonds' number on August 11th while the Pirates are in town.

Anyways, here's the Homegrown AL Central.

Chicago

Spoiler

C: Kevan Smith
1B: Jose Abreu
2B: Tim Anderson
3B: Eduardo Escobar
SS: Marcus Semien
OF: Chris Young
OF: Trayce Thompson
OF: Jose Martinez
DH: (for some reason they didn't put a DH for Chicago)

SP: Chris Sale
SP: Gio Gonzalez
SP: Carlos Rodon
SP: Hector Santiago
SP: Clayton Richard
RP: Addison Reed

Honorable mention: Chris Devenski, Brandon McCarthy, Daniel Hudson, Nate Jones, Yolmer Sanchez, Tyler Saladino, Boone Logan, David Holmberg, Carlos Torres

Cleveland

Spoiler

C: Roberto Perez
1B: Jesus Aguilar
2B: Jason Kipnis
3B: Jose Ramirez
SS: Francisco Lindor
OF: Tyler Naquin
OF: Bradley Zimmer
OF: Lonnie Chisenhall
DH: Giovanny Urshela

SP: Chris Archer
SP: Danny Salazar
SP: C.C. Sabathia
SP: Drew Pomeranz
SP: Josh Tomlin
RP: Cody Allen

Honorable mention: Bartolo Colon, Steven Wright, Tony Wolters, Jhonny Peralta, Chris Gimenez, Hector Rondon, Jeanmar Gomez, Cody Anderson, Shawn Armstrong, Tony Sipp, Vidal Nuno, Zach Putnam, Clint Frazier, Francisco Mejia

Detroit

Spoiler

C: Alex Avila
1B: Nick Castellanos
2B: Devon Travis
3B: Eugenio Suarez
SS: Willy Adames
OF: Matt Joyce
OF: Cameron Maybin
OF: Avisail Garcia
DH: Curtis Granderson

SP: Justin Verlander
SP: Rick Porcello
SP: Drew Smyly
SP: Jake Thompson
SP: Chad Green
RP: Andrew Miller

Honorable mention: Fernando Rodney, Corey Knebel, James McCann, Dixon Machado, Bruce Rondon, Ryan Raburn, Tyler Collins, Hernan Perez, Casey Fien, Buck Farmer, David Paulino

Kansas City

Spoiler

C: Salvador Perez
1B: Eric Hosmer
2B: Whit Merrifield
3B: Mike Moustakas
SS: Raul Mondesi
OF: Alex Gordon
OF: Jerrod Dyson
OF: Wil Myers
DH: Jorge Bonifacio

SP: Zack Greinke
SP: Danny Duffy
SP: Sean Manaea
SP: Mike Montgomery
SP: Jake Junis
RP: Greg Holland

Honorable mention: Kelvin Herrera, Andrew Triggs, Brandon Finnegan, Scott Alexander, J.P. Howell, Mike Aviles, Andres Blanco, Blaine Hardy, Cody Reed

Minnesota

Spoiler

C: Chris Herrmann
1B: Joe Mauer
2B: Brian Dozier
3B: Yangervis Solarte
SS: Jorge Polanco
OF: Eddie Rosario
OF: Byron Buxton
OF: Max Kepler
DH: Miguel Sano

SP: Jose Berrios
SP: Matt Garza
SP: Kyle Gibson
SP: Liam Hendricks
SP: Brian Duensing
RP: Pat Neshek

Honorable mention: Kennys Vargas, Denard Span, Ben Revere, Aaron Hicks, Danny Valencia, Peter Moylan, Anthony Swarzak, Taylor Rogers, Trevor Plouffe

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

In case any of us forgot the freak of nature that is/was Nolan Ryan

https://www.mlb.com/news/two-unbreak...an/c-265897848

The other incredible thing when it comes to Nolan Ryan to me is that he didn't retire because his arm gave out. He retired because his legs and lower back were starting to go. In a perfect would he could've pitched a couple more years!

[Jr.]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Not sure if it's been posted or not....

But the Giants are retiring Barry Bonds's number in August

[Bard]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Not sure if it's been posted or not....

But the Giants are retiring Barry Bonds's number in August

I hadn't heard! Thank you for posting...you would think a few others would have posted this by now.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[The Kid 24]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

When will this moron be fired..........

Tony Clark Accuses MLB Teams Of “Race To The Bottom”

[Blzer]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Not sure if it's been posted or not....

But the Giants are retiring Barry Bonds's number in August

What are you trying to tell me?

When will this moron be fired..........

Tony Clark Accuses MLB Teams Of “Race To The Bottom”

Meh, he's just talking because he has a microphone. Probably obliged to defend his clients in that way.

You could argue that if teams are looking more toward next year than this year because of the luxury tax that they are indeed not doing all they can to compete for first in this particular year, but it is anything but collusion in doing so if that's what he thinks.

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

When will this moron be fired..........

Tony Clark Accuses MLB Teams Of “Race To The Bottom”

Sounds like Tony is cribbing off of Scott Boras' sheet here as he just recently said that rebuilding teams are a "cancer" to the sport.

[DieHardYankee26]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I feel like all he said is that there are teams tanking, and he's right. Why would he be fired for that? Are certain teams not in a race to the bottom?